True Colors
by darbear
Summary: Hermione Granger lost her mother early in the summer of her fifth year. Her father tortured her throughout the summer and even though she is now at Hogwarts, the threat of him is still looming over her head. Luckily for her, Gryffindor Head of House Minerva McGonagall notices her star pupil is out of sorts. Read along as student and teacher morph into family.
1. Chapter 1

** Summer Before Fifth Year**

When Hermione Granger's mother died, it seemed as though her whole world came crashing down around her. Without her mum around, her dad quickly became unbearable. When Hermione was a little girl, her dad sometimes made her feel very uncomfortable; his hands would linger on her back for just a little too long, he would "forget" she was in the shower and just walk in, and sometimes, when her mom wasn't home he would make her sleep in his bed. Whenever Hermione's mom learned of her father's actions, they would stop for awhile. But now that her mom was gone, her dad was free to do whatever he wanted to her. Unfortunately for Hermione, her mother had died during the first month of the summer holidays, and she had no where else to go. Only a few days after her mother died, Hermione's dad forced himself on her and stole her virginity. When he was finished, he told her to keep her mouth shut or he would kill her. After he left, she tried to get a message out to the Order, but unfortunately, her father caught her. He flew into a rage and threw all of her parchment into the fireplace and he told her any owl or other animal that came to their house would meet the same fate, then he slapped her so hard across the face that she was thrown to the other side of the room. The Gryffindor golden girl tried to fight back, but without her magic he was too strong for her. She accepted her fate and was subjected to being her father's plaything many more times over the summer. There were many times where she contemplated killing herself, and the only thing that stopped her was knowing that come September 1st she would be able to leave this god forsaken house.

**September 1, 1994**

Hermione's father agreed to drive her to the train station mainly to ensure his daughter wouldn't tell anyone about what had happened over the summer. He forced her to cover the bruises on her arms and face, and then told her if she told anyone what had happened he would kill her and her friends. Mr. Granger was not a small man, and he had multiple friends who looked as though they had killed before and Hermione was sufficiently afraid. Throughout the summer her father had conditioned her to obey his every word. In order to eat, to drink, or to sleep she had to perform for either him or one if his sleazy friends. He also told her that he would be watching for her at Hogwarts and if she didn't continue her work for money there would be consequences. Suffice to say that Hermione was terrified of her father and what he would do to her, so she agreed. When he finally left King's Cross Station, Hermione ran onto the train and buried herself in a book. Ron and Harry came to find her, but she brushed them off, and sat in silence while they joked with each other. She didn't want them to see her until she got to Hogwarts and put a glamour charm on herself, so just moments into their encounter, she left saying she was going to find Ginny. Instead she hid in a bathroom for the entire train ride. When the Hogwarts Express finally pulled up to Hogsmeade Station, Hermione bolted off the train and ran straight to the castle, not even bothering with the carriages. She was met at the door by Flitwick who quickly let her through when she said she was having "female troubles". If Hermione hadn't been trying to get to her dormitory as fast as possible, she would've noticed, and maybe even laughed at the bright shade of red her diminuitive Charms professor had turned. Only 30 minutes after the train had pulled into the station and Hermione was already in her dormitory and under the covers. Her father said she couldn't eat, so she wouldn't. The Golden Trio's brainiac figured if she didn't eat for a long enough period of time, she would die. For Hermione death seemed to be a welcoming escape. On September 1, 1994, Hermione Granger slept through the night for the first time in almost two months. Her dreams were filled with happy thoughts of joining her mother in death. She had a very peaceful slumber,

**September 1, 1994**

While Hermione Granger slept peacefully in her dormitory, her Head of House wondered where she was. Minerva hadn't seen her all night, and neither had her two best friends. It was very perplexing to Minerva, and she asked her fellow teachers, "Has anyone seen Ms. Granger?" Filius Flitwick blushed bright red and squeaked, "Oh, yes Minerva. She came early to the castle. Apparently had some sort of female trouble." Minerva accepted that answer, and was inwardly grinning at Flitwick's response. He had been a head of house for over forty years, and he still sent first and second years to her, Pomona, and Poppy with questions about their feminine issues. With dinner wrapping up, and Albus introducing the newest staff member, some ministry hag filling in for the real professor, Minerva made a mental note to speak with Ms. Granger in the morning when she handed out the timetables and went on her way to her chambers. Minerva slept quite peacefully, without a single worry.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ **September 2, 1994**

Hermione made a point to be up extra early in order to reapply her glamour charms and shower without anyone seeing her. She also wanted to get down to breakfast before Harry and Ron so she wouldn't have to talk with them about trivial things like, Snape's obvious lack of shampoo, and how mean he was to them. When Hermione entered the Great Hall, it seemed as though she had succeeded in her plan to be alone. She looked around and was pleased to see not another soul in the whole room. However, her happiness was short lived. Minerva McGonagall walked in a mere two minutes behind her and looked very surprised to see her prized pupil there at such an early time. Minerva walked over to her and said, "Hello Ms. Granger. I don't think I've ever seen a student in the Great Hall at such an early hour! Are you hungry from missing the feast last night? I noticed you weren't there." "Oh shit," thought Hermione. "Yes Professor, unfortunately I was having some issues yesterday, and I really needed to get to bed. Not to worry though, my mum made me some sandwiches for the train so I wasn't completely starved last night." Hermione replied jokingly. Her father said not to let anyone know that her mother had died, because he didn't want any problems with the school, and he didn't want it to get around that his teenaged daughter was living alone with her middle-aged father. Hermione was touched that her professor had noticed that she wasn't at the feast last night, and was caught totally off guard when her favorite teacher put a hand on her shoulder. Hermione jumped away and cowered at the end of the table for a good ten seconds before remembering where she was and snapping out of it. Minerva was shocked. What on Earth had made the girl react that strongly to someone touching her shoulder? As she ran after Hermione, she noticed there was blood on the floor under where the girl was sitting. A lot of blood. She ran as fast as she could towards her student, who she found collapsed on the floor right outside of the Great Hall. Minerva sent a Patronus to both Poppy and Albus, apprising them of the situation, before grabbing the girl in her arms and running through the halls towards the Hospital Wing. As she ran she noticed how light the girl was, (she couldn't be more than 95 or 100 pounds!). When she finally got to the Hospital Wing, Poppy was astonished at the amount of blood on both of their robes. The medi-witch began to bark orders at her colleague, and as she ran a diagnostic scan on her patient she found out what was causing the extreme amounts of bleeding. As Minerva came running in from the healer's office with all of the potions she had requested, she noticed her friend and colleague had tears in her eyes as she was waving her wand trying to heal the girl. "What's wrong with her? Is she going to be okay?" Minerva was close to tears herself. Hermione reminded her so much of herself back when she was that age. It was heartbreaking to see her the way she was. "Minerva, she has had extreme glamour charms on since she got back. The poor thing is covered in bruises and cuts. Her back looks like someone took a cheese grater to it. She is also extremely under weight and malnourished, but that's not the worst of it. Min, she has a very bad tear on her vaginal walls. It looks like she was raped. Repeatedly." As Poppy tried to break the news to her friend as gently as possible, Minerva began crying softly. She moved away from Poppy and towards her little lion's head. She cried a single tear and then sat and held her cub's hand while promising that whoever did this to her would pay….TBC

A/N: I stopped writing for a while for basically no reason, and this is my first attempt in a while!I had this in my head as a completely different story (Which I've also started on!), but when I went to start writing it, this came out instead. I have already started writing chapter 2, and I hope ya'll love it! Please Review!


	2. Chapter 2

True Colors Chapter 2

September 9, 1994

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Hermione Granger had been in and out of consciousness in the hospital wing for a week now. During her lucid moments, which were becoming more and more common she would cry out for her mother and weep. For the first few days, her sleep was wrought with nightmares Despite Poppy Pomfrey's vast medical knowledge, it was becoming more and more difficult to calm the girl during her episodes. It seemed the only person who was able to get Hermione calmed down was her Transfiguration Professor and Head of House, Minerva McGonagall. After a week in the hospital wing, Hermione was physically much healthier after a week in the hospital wing than she had been in months. Emotionally she was a nervous wreck. Unfortunately, the new Defense Professor, Dolores Umbridge, was very interested in where the Gryffindor student was. Due to Madame Pomfreys strict rules about visitation, the vile woman was kept at bay while Hermione was in the Hospital Wing. However, everyone was on high alert today, because the young girl was going to be released today. Instead of going back too her dormitory, Hermione would be residing in the guest chamber's of her Transfiguration Professor for a few months, and it was of the utmost importance that Dolores Umbridge did not learn of Hermione's new living situation. In a normal situation, Poppy would have no problem letting the girl go back to the dormitory, however after what happened on September 6, there was no way she was releasing the girl anywhere but to Minerva's quarters.

Flashback: September 6, 1994

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Hermione was not sleeping and was eating next to nothing. Poppy had been able to get her to eat a little bit of chicken broth during the day, and she had fallen asleep around 7:30. Minerva came to visit and sit with her student around 8, and she stayed grading papers until she eventually nodded off. Later on that night, Minerva was awoken from her less than peaceful slumber by the most terror filled screams she had ever heard. Hermione didn't seem to be truly awake. Her eyes were open, but she wasn't seeing. Minerva impulsively reached her arms out towards her student and was taken aback when the girl lashed out at her. After realizing what she had done, Minerva pulled back and thought for a few seconds. Hermione was now sobbing and curled into a ball at the top of her hospital bed. After thinking for a few moments, Minerva went to the other side of the bed, and cautiously moved to stroke her pupil's hand. While the light touch startled the girl, she didn't pull away. Taking that as a sign to continue, Minerva began to softly sing , "Feasgar ciùin an tùs a' Chèitein, Nuair bha 'n ialtag anns na speuran, Chualaim rìbhinn òg 's i deurach, 'Seinn fo sgàil nan geugan uain', Bha a' ghrian 'sa chuan gu sìoladh, 'S reult cha d' èirich anns an iarmailt, Nuair a sheinn an òigh gu cianail, "Tha mo ghaol air àird a' chuain." Hermione gradually calmed as she listened to her Professor's soothing Scottish burr. As she calmed Hermione gradually began to lean into her Professor. Minerva climbed onto the bed next to the little girl and gathered her close in her arms, softly singing and rocking back and forth until the girl was lulled back to sleep. After she fell asleep, Minerva made to move off the bed, but was suddenly stopped when a small hand reached for her own. "Please don't go." Hermione said in a small voice. Minerva raised her head to meet her pupil's eyes which were barely visible in the dark light of the Hospital Wing where the only light was that of the moon streaming in through the windows. As she looked into the girl's eyes, she saw a need in them that made every maternal instinct she had scream. She was debating whether to do what was proper or to do what was right, but before she could reach a conclusion, a hand reached for hers and pulled her closer. Her mind had been made up for her. As she climbed into bed with her pupil, she felt a calm relax over her that confirmed she was doing the right thing. She stayed the whole night. The next morning, Minerva was awakened by her friend Poppy Pomfrey, who was staring at her with a tear in her eye. As she was alerted to her friends consciousness, she said "That's the first time she's slept through the night without a potion the whole time she's been here, and I don't think I've seen you look so well rested since before…" When her friend trailed off, Minerva's feelings of calm and relaxation began to slip away. "Yes thank you Poppy. I thought we had agreed to never speak of that incident again. " Minerva said defensively. Poppy apologized quickly, but added " I know what you went through was hard, but you two are good for each other. You're going to be a great help to this girl, and I won't let you push her away." Minerva was about to offer a rebuttal, but found she didn't have a response. She had no argument. Hermione was good for her, and she was obviously good for the girl. It was like finally having a child of her own. As Hermione stirred in her sleep, Minerva stroked her hair and the girl was lulled back to sleep while Minerva left to begin her day.

September 9, 1995 CONT

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Hermione was both terrified and excited to leave the Hospital Wing. While leaving would mean that she could begin studying and reading again, it would also leave her exposed to Dolores Umbridge and some of the undesirable people in her classes (aka all Slytherins). The thing that terrified her the most was moving in with her Professor. Although she had been very kind to her, Hermione was terrified that would all change when she moved in with her. She was also afraid that after a few nights with her night terrors, Minerva would change her mind and decide that she didn't want the hassle. If that happened Hermione didn't think she'd be able to bear it. She had begun to put up a normal façade, mostly for her friends and Professor's sake, but inside, she was still terrified that her father would find her. In the Hospital Wing, she knew she was safe, but how would she know in Minerva's rooms? What if her found her and made her pay for telling? As Hermione thought these scary thoughts, Minerva had entered the Hospital Wing and was on her way to collect the girl. As she reached Hermione's bed, she noticed the girl was sitting silently with tears running down her face. She gently tapped her shoulder, which shook the girl out of her thoughts, but one look at her eyes and she knew she wasn't ready to talk about it. "Hermione," Minerva said softly, "It's time to go. I've set up a room just for you, and I'm sure you'll love it." Hermione calmed while listening to Minerva's soft voice and gradually her tears stopped and she got up and made to follow her Professor. She was going home.

...TBC

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A/N: I am soooo sorry this took so long to get out! I had almost all of this chapter written, and then I got the worst case of writer's block ever and my life got super crazy. This is my most favorited story, and thank you to everyone who has put it on their story alert list! I am so sorry that it took so long to get to you guys, but I hope you enjoyed, and I definitely won't leave you hanging for this long for another update! In other news, I'm about to post a Hermione/Rose oneshot and I hope you all check it out :) Please Review!

-Dar 3


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